Self Managed Learners - a NZ experience

Nearly the end of the year and your thoughts are probably on other things, but I thought I would post this in case you missed it.  An article about a Northland school that has trialed net-books in conjunction with a self managed learning program and have been very pleased with the results.  The comment about the mathematics programme is very interesting.

What do you think?  Link here

http://www.northernadvocate.co.nz/news/kids-thrive-on-netbook-computers/1204581/

Have a great Christmas!

Baby News!

On Tuesday 8 November, while many of you were enjoying the final Lead Teacher day for 2011, Logan Charles Sanders arrived into the world weighing a healthy 8 pounds 11 1/2 ounces.

He is doing really well, I am getting used to motherhood and am very lucky to have a fabulous husband helping out!

Thank you for all of your kind wishes and support

Looking forward to seeing you all for the start of the 2012 school year.
Karla and Logan

Funky Schools and Lectures are Homework........

Exploring what the future school environment might look like - an agile learning space?  St Monica's Funky school is pushing the traditional classroom environment.  Is this what our future classrooms might look like.  Full story link is HERE



A few posts ago there was an article on the flipped classroom where teachers focus on student interaction in the classroom and leave 'lecture' style work for outside the classroom (homework).   Have been thinking - in the age of personal digital devices are we wasting valuable relationship building and interaction time by putting individual students in front of individual devices in the classroom when they can this at other times?  Not suggesting that we don't use technology in the classroom (in appropriate and effective differentiated ways) but are there are some things that students might be better doing with their personal technology else where than in the classroom?  Here is an article that explores this idea in action
Lectures are Homework!  What do you think?

Custom Glitter Text

Internet Filtering....

After having had had a couple of interesting discussions with a couple of schools recently about internet filtering I was sent this link advocating the removal of internet filtering in schools -  and it has got me thinking about this again - how much should schools do?
What does your school do about filtering and why?  Has filtering got in the way of anything you have been trying to do with students?

Are the teachers in your school comfortable  with the idea of more open access and do the teachers feel they have the strategies and knowledge to work with, and advise students (of all ages) in Digital Citizenship.

I feel we should be having conversations with all learners in our school around cyber safety and appropriate way to work digitally.  (I don't mean giving them rules .......)

Ditch Internet Filters?   Hmmm - what are your thoughs  Link here

images courtesy  @Microsoft 

Interface awards - Best class blog!!!!

Congratulations to Melissa Liddy from Arrowtown School who is a finalist in the Interface Magazine Awards for 2011.


Melissa's Room 12 blog is in the Best Classroom Blog category.  You can vote for the awards here   Awards 2011


Melissa Blog address is http://room12arrowtown.blogspot.com/  and entry information is here

Well done Melissa!!!!  and good luck!!

What can today's children teach us about technology?

Can the digital native generation teach us anything about technology?

An interesting read  Link here

Cell Phones - Ban or Embrace!

Some teachers (and schools) in NZ and overseas are starting to use cell phones in the classroom more and more as part of the learning programme.  An interesting article here from the US.  A good point made about some of the current phones in students pockets have more computer power that was used on the trip to the moon and back.

This article is an interesting contrast to Rangitoto College in Auckland that currently ban cell phones as they want the students to interact more (this was the current policy as of week 8 Term  3 this year - from one of the leaders at the school)

Where do you sit with cell phones in the classroom?

Link  Schools Learn to Work with Cell Phones

Five characteristics of an effective 21st-century educator

Today’s educators are constantly evaluating the skills students need to compete in the global economy. But what are the characteristics or skills needed to be an effective 21^st-century educator?


Here is a response from eSchools readers.  Do you agree?  Are they any different from what we might expect from a 21st Century learner?


Article  Five Characteristics of an Effective 21st Century Educator

Challenging the current school system

Some kids learn by listening; others learn by doing. Geoff Mulgan gives a short introduction to the Studio School, a new kind of school in the UK where small teams of kids learn by working on projects that are, as Mulgan puts it, "for real."

Are your students bringing their own Devices into School?

A quick post from me to find out if any of the schools within the Cluster that are allowing their students to bring their own devices into school (e.g. iPods,iPads, Laptops etc)

Are you using a permission/disclaimer form for parents to fill in to keep on file for issues around insurance etc before the student is allowed to bring the device to school?

If so, I would love to hear from you

K

The Flipped Classroom

The Flipped Classroom - seems to be gaining momentum. What are your thoughts.
Background article here 

UPDATE from the above web site: New "Flipped Class" Series - posted June 21, 2011
Part 1 - The Flipped Class - Myth vs. Reality
Part 2 - Are You Ready to Flip?
Part 3:  The Flipped Class Revealed:  What Does a Good One Look Like   

This graphic may make more sense after a read. What are your thoughts? What age would it suit?


Created by Knewton and Column Five Media

Always Connected

An interesting info graphic with some figures about how connected the modern student might be.

Students today face far greater distractions than in generations past. Connectivity is at an all time high, but how much is this really impacting students' quality of life? Take a look through the comic book style graphic to take a look at a day in the life of a student, and see how we are "Always Connected".


Created by: Online Schools

Pressure in Education

Note: - I have not seen the film but this trailer makes interesting watching.... considering where western education seems to be heading......

Gamify? or Notify? (not)

Interesting point of view of gaming in Education in this article.   I guess it is a good time to think about games in our classroom as we can now have huge access to them via personal technologies.  I was not sure what this person was really concerned about gaming or (sticker) rewards.  Good to have a discussion about though as it comes down to your basic beliefs about learning.  I think there is a place for gaming depending on how they are handled and why the students are doing them.   If you really want to get thinking follow the link from the article to Ian Bogost's comment. (no - I had not heard of him either :-)

Stickers.... hmmm that could be another discussion.  I know of a Principal of a new school who told me he would not initially employ any teacher who used stickers!   What are your thoughts on that view?

Link here
3-reasons-not-to-gamify-education

Collaborative Learning for the Digital Age

Have just finished this online article entitled Collaborative Learning for the Digital Age recounting a lecturers journey of learn - unlearn - relearn - as she challenged some theories of learning within her own teaching. I found the article quite thought provoking and paralleled some of the ideas around about the value that collaborative technologies can change and improve learning (eg blogging - peer review).  Well worth a read.  What are your thoughts?  Agree or disagree with anything?  And of course the comments are worth a read too......


Link here


Collaborative Learning for the Digital 

Comparing Education Systems

Have just read this interesting article talking about the Finnish education system compared to others in the world and in particular the approach taken by some Asian counties.  Worth a read - also for some thoughts on national testing.    Article here

What do you think?

link http://tiny.cc/usg6s

What are your guidelines for using technology in the classroom?

Adam S. Bellow had some suggestions for golden rules for using technology in the classroom - presented at the 2011 ISTE  conference.  Some good ideas- what do you think and what have you learnt about  using tech in the classroom?  We would love to hear!  Link is here or below

http://tiny.cc/7o8sn


And have you ever wondered how many electronic things are around now..... have a gink at this!

http://tiny.cc/rudih

Hollywood and Computers!

How about a light hearted read for the hols?  Hollywood films often have had computers as part of the plot and some interesting ideas about computers have emerged.  Have a read and a chuckle.

Link http://tiny.cc/4928y

The benefits of 3D in Education?

There is a current trend in producing 3D movies and along with TV companies trying to out do each other in developing the best 3D Television system - not to mention gaming devices going 3D!  What about 3D in education.  This article about a 3D trial in classroom makes for interesting reading.  I have no experience myself with 3D other than watching a film but will be interested to see where this leads....?

Article is here  3D Content in Learning

What do you think?

Twitter in the Classroom

You may be interested in using Twitter at school?  This  Getting Started Guide was posted in June.

Link here http://web20classroom.blogspot.com/2011/06/twitter-in-schools-getting-started.html

Is teaching using technology optional?

We all know a few people who are cynical about using technology - especially in teaching and all points of view have some validity.  This blog post raises the debate again.   One of the things I think about is if we ignore the activities (incl technologies) that young people involve themselves in we run the risk of being seen as irrelevant in their eyes and they will be less likely to engage and listen to us. The importance of communication and discussion can not be forgotten and if we want to advise young people about appropriate behaviors then we need to understand where they are coming from.

quote "This is not about technology. This is about connecting and sharing with others and yes, technology can be a fantastic medium for this. It is still ultimately about the relationships you create"

Technology is a great way to connect with your students!

Read here http://georgecouros.ca/blog/archives/2107

Challenge your thinking

Thanks for another thought provoking video clip Karla
I found this one - challenges the way we view kids in our class

Think Different

This is a link to a you tube clip that may inspire some people.
Not related to ICT but is about a different way of thinking about kids in our class and how we should keep inspiring them or better still let them inspire us.

Week Eleven-Blog Round Up- Education Video Playlist

Sorry for my absence last week- BUT WHAT A WEEK!! Dave and I had an action packed few days full of workshops for parents, staff and students that have given me a lot to think about!

This week, for the Blog RoundUp I wanted to think about Educational Videos- videos exploring education today, especially when thinking about the impact of technology and the possibilities of e learning

Videos are an extremely effective tool to get people thinking or talking about their ideas and views on a range of topics and can gather the attention of your audience to set the tone for your session.

This stemmed from a great post by Richard Byrne on Free Technology for Teacherstalking about his YouTube playlist. This has received a number of comments suggesting other videos that could be added to the list and I believe this is a great collection for use with staff and students to provoke discussion.

One of the ones that left me thinking about my own educational experiences was the video below, though this is set in a University, I believe it is incredibly relevant especially in light of concerns that have been expressed across the Cluster about the traditional approach still being utilized commonly in Higher Education.



I would be really interested in any other videos that you can recommend that could be used across the cluster. Place your comments below!

Until Wednesday
Ka Kite
K

Online Photo editing

There is an online photo editing site called befunky, it is free, you don't have to register or download anything. Very easy one click editing, after which you can save back to your computer or share. Lots of effects and easy to use, great for kids to alter photos as inspiration for art or many other uses.

Dusting off the Digital Camera

While everyone has their digital camera out and about, I thought I would collect some ideas of ways to use the camera to support literacy learning in the classroom.
These are a few, not in order of age or ability. I wanted people to use their imagination and own experiences to think of ways to adapt these ideas for their class.

Use photos to create a story board plan

Writing recounts

Record step by step science or baking experiences, print out, laminate and use for sequencing task.

Visual language that relates to them

portfolio of children's success and learning

Photos taken by children to record their learning. Use for developing success criteria, reflection of learning or developing sli's for next person.

Children take photos of objects in the room with same phoeneme. Print and share

Use speech bubbles to extend vocab and teach langauge features

claymation to retell a story

Positional language - a photo of someone or something under the table, on a chair etc

Can someone please add to the list. I'd love to compile a really comprehensive one for sharing with others.

Thanks
 Laetitia de Vries (Wanaka Primary)

Week Nine-WOW-Digital Photography sites for kids

With the Cluster Digital Photography competition deadline approaching what are some websites that you can recommend to help your students to learn more about Digital Photography??

Listed below are a few that i have come across that I thought might be worth a look, I am really interested to find out if you have any you would recommend to add to these.

What techniques have you used in your school to get your students excited about the competition?

The first site is great, especially the page outlining '13 lessons to Teach your child about Digital Photography'

The HP website has a nice demonstration about Taking Better photos that uses examples of photos throughout to illustrate the techniques. They also have another page 'Digital Photography Tips and ideas' that offers tips about composition and lighting among others. It is a commercial website so pushes HP products, despite this, I believe the tips were well explained and set out

The National Geographic website has a fantastic selection of Tips and examples that grab you with the vast array of stunning images from around the world. I spent quite a while exploring here!!

Looking at life through a lens offers amazing ways to consider the world around is in new and interesting ways. Encourage the students to try taking photos from different angles (from down low, up high, bird's eye view etc.) What about photographing something in a different way, not just straight on with the subject in the middle of the frame? What about using the zoom feature to take close up pictures to really change how we think about something?

The main tips- HAVE FUN! BE CREATIVE and EXPERIMENT



Next week, I will give ideas for FREE online photo editing tools

For teachers wanting ideas for how to use Adobe software in their classes (specifically using photos) there is an interesting Teacher Resource collection available through the education part of Adobe's website

Until Next Time
K

Week Nine Blog Round Up- What's wrong with Google telling me everything?

Any of us that have gone to the computer to 'ask google' knows that the way we look for and verify information has changed dramatically in the past 10 years.

This makes me wonder how disagreements like, "No way, Elizabeth Taylor's first film was when she was 9" were solved before the, "Well, I'll google it and THEN WE'LL FIND OUT WHO'S RIGHT!" closure to what could be an endless circle of inane arguing

But what about in the classroom?

During my weekly reading of a range of e-Learning blogs I cam across this great post from the Blogging about the Web 2.0 Connected Classroom blog that asks the the question I have used in the title of this post "What's wrong with Google telling me everything?"

The post talks about asking students to evaluate the information they are searching, to think critically and to 'Detect the crap'

The link to Howard Rheingold's Crap Detection post is great and identifies some excellent ideas and links to follow up

It is well worth a read and takes us that next step from how we can teach students to search effectively to how we can critically evaluate content in order to make sure we are accessing quality information.

What do you do in your classroom?

How good are you at evaluating the information you are searching or is this an area for improvement?

Until next time
K

Week Eight-WOW!!

Thank you to everyone who is following and reading the blog, and a special thanks to those of you commenting and posting- that is what makes a community successful and I encourage you to keep it up OR to give it a go!

Following on from the 'Lesser known Google Tools' Post on the Blog Round Up this week, I wanted to talk about a new feature that has been enabled in Google Docs

Last week, Google announced a new feature to the commenting capabilities on Google Docs.

Read more on this Blog post from TechCrunch

These are called 'Discussions' and they allow people collaborating on a document to have conversations in the margins of a document. You can reply directly to someone by including the @ symbol before a collaborator's name and you also have the option to be e-mailed when replies are made to your comments.

Unfortunately, this is only available for NEW documents but it does offer great opportunities, especially for those of you collaborating across the region!!

Students could also utilise this feature when working together on a shared task- watch this space- I will give this a go with Dave and let you know what we think!

Have a quick look at the video below to find out more about Google Docs Discussions in a light hearted way!! No ideas now...



Until Next time
K

Week Eight Blog Round Up

I hope you all had a FANTASTIC Otago Anniversary Weekend and are looking forward to a SHORT WEEK!

In my travels through the Land of Blog, I came across this great post about the lesser known Google Tools and thought it was worth sharing! I am interested to find out if anything leaps out at you and leads you to a little experimentation.

Are there any other tools that you think people should know about?



The other thing I wanted to draw your attention to on this fine (or not so fine here in Alexandra) Tuesday morning, is this great post about RSS feeds.

The post answers the question 'How do you keep up with all of this?' when talking about new ideas, thoughts, studies (basically 'THINGS') in the field of ICT and e-learning

Definitely worth a look

Until Next Time
K

Week Seven-WOW-Skype!

Last week we talked about Youtube and how we can make it safer to view in schools, this week, I wanted to draw your attention to Skype and its possibilities.

Why couldn't we enable our students to take part in Real Life, Current affairs as this Secondary school in the States did during the Oil Spill



A US educator puts it like this 'It is NOT good enough to simply say ,
"My 2nd graders in anytown, USA Skyped a classroom in 4CornersOfTheGLobe." That's cliche, NOT innovative'

So then, if we want to be innovative in how we use Skype, what could that look like?

Well, it isn't an 'off the cuff', let's ring a classroom in Brazil moment, using Skype effectively and innovatively involves preparation and planning.

Practicing: speaking up, explaining your ideas or thoughts, editing material, checking if it makes sense and will make sense to the potential audience, background research on who you will be talking to and why, being prepared to ask and answer questions clearly and with enough detail to satisfy the question...The list could go on!

Resources: Do you have an external mic or are you expecting your students to crowd around a computer? Are you relying on your laptops webcam-how does this limit what can be seen of your students? Would an external webcam be better?

Then what? if that is it and there is no follow up, then you might as well have called McDonalds in Russia and asked them what their equivalent to a Kiwiburger is and left it at that!

How will you debrief after the call? How will you archive or store what you have learned? How will that inform what happens next OR COULD happen next?

To read more about other classrooms using Skype, Click on the links below:

Making Video Conferencing More than Just Cool
Skype for educators accounts which identifies experts willing to speak to classes from around the world
Using Skype to bring education to life-Sign Up Now!
50 Awesome ways to use Skype in the classroom

Skype can offer more than a chance to call your cousin in Australia for FREE!

If you would like help with a programme or technique on your computer, you can share your screen with someone who can help 'walk you through it'

You can have a conference call with up to 25 people

AND with the latest Skype download you can take part in Video Conference Calling (charges apply)

How do you use Skype that could be shared across the Cluster??

Until Next Time
K

Week 7-Blog Round Up

Considering using Social Media in your classroom?

Interested in developing Twitter within your school?

If so, then this Blog Post from the iLearn Technology Blog offers some great ideas for introducing Twitter using classroom accounts across a school and also shares resources that could be used for establishing guidelines for use.

After watching the video Jan showed at last week's Lead Teacher session, I was a little depressed, then I came across this great video shown at the TEDxNYED conference at the beginning of March. Morley is a musician who The innovative educator blog says "uses her craft as a tool to inspire change", the video below features students of our future who confidently declare "We will change everything!"

A question to consider, while you watch:

How can we give students time to change things by giving them time to discover, explore and grow their own passions?

TEDxYouthday Theme Song from TEDxAmsterdam on Vimeo.

Until Next Time
K

How do I make a video like this???

Hi

Can anyone tell me how this wonderful teacher has made this video???

The background looks like a tux paint, kidpix or paint picture - but how did they get dan the flying man cutout like that so you can see the background around him? and the kids in it and stuff.

Week 6-WOW Ode to YouTube

One piece of advice Dave gave me when he found out I was updating this blog weekly with a Website of the Week (WOW) was that sometimes it is important to reflect on tools we are already using but to consider delving deeper

In the spirit of doing this, for today's post, I wanted to consider YouTube.

YouTube offers us the world (if our filters allow it), to learn, to laugh to wonder and to think but what tools help us to use YouTube to meet a range of our needs??

The Technology Tidbits Blog in late February discussed ways to get the most out of YouTube

Check out the 'Top 10 YouTube Goodies' post and see if it could offer you something NEW or INTERESTING!

Covering the Top 5 ways to make YouTube Viewing Safer in schools?

And also, the Top 5 Ways to edit YouTube videos?

Worth a look!

Take a couple of minutes to check out the post and if you have any other ideas about delving deeper into YouTube, please let us know by commenting below

Until Next Time
K

Jan's Video - What students are thinking.

The Video from Jan Robertson's Session in Cromwell that you may like to use with staff.

Week Six-Blog Round Up-Student response to Sir Ken Robinson's RSA talk

After attending today's COPA leadership coaching session with Jan Robertson, I started thinking more about how students felt about education, and then as I was doing my weekly blog round up, I came across this post on Derek Wenmoth's Blog that showed this fabulous student made video in response to Sir Ken Robinson's' RSA talk 'Changing Education Paradigms' posted on this blog late last year.

The video was made by Grade 8 students from the Calgary Science School in response to Robinson's ideas, and as Derek puts it " It's worth a view, as it provides a refreshingly 'raw' interpretation of the issues, with some challenging comments"

Could any of the recommendations made in the video make a difference for students in your school?

Why Education Needs to Change: A Student Perspective from Calgary Science School on Vimeo.

Until Next Time
K

Week Five-WOW-Diigo

You may have heard people talking about social bookmarking with sites like Delicious and been considering how you could use them either with your colleagues or with your class, with news that Yahoo are planning on shutting down Delicious, what else is available?

Last week at Ulearn, a teacher I met in one of the workshops recommended Diigo which offers Social Bookmarking as well as additional features through a toolbar installation such as highlighting, annotating and archiving.

Jose Picardo blogged about utilizing the annotation feature late in 2009 for asking students to comment on Web content set for homework.

A Guide to Annotating using Diigo from José Picardo on Vimeo.

Other applications across the cluster could be for HUB groups, Networks, sharing resources or ideas, discussing professional readings with colleagues or identifying key parts of information.

The Toolbar is not available on Safari (an alternative is available), but works with Firefox and Internet Explorer as well as on iPads and iPhones.

Another alternative is Evernote which is also cross platform.

Are there others that you are using?

Are you utilizing tools like these in interesting ways? We would love to hear from you!

Until Next time
K

Week Five- News Round Up-Christchurch Earthquake

This week, I wanted to think about last Tuesday's Christchurch Earthquake and how media coverage, including the web and social networking have responded, particularly when considering children.

Many of you will have had students arrive in your schools to have some respite from the continuing aftershocks especially those who have suffered enormous loss.

The Rotorua Daily Post reported today that 'Quake TV may disturb children' and that 'adults should limit what their children saw on television...there can be too many negative images of people being distressed and bodies being found...this can reinforce in them that it could happen here' This was also reported on 3 News this morning

TV One's Breakfast Show featured psychologist Nigel Latta describing how the quake will be a 'defining moment' in a child's life and that they would not necessarily "look back and remember the terrible stuff". He believes ' some "pretty robust" children will come out of Christchurch following the quake'. If you are interested in hearing Latta speak about what the research says about speaking to children post disaster click the link HERE to hear the radio comments

How have you approached talking about the earthquake with your kids, either as a parent or as a teacher?

Contrast this with the Kiwi Kids News website who have prepared a special report on the Christchurch Earthquake. "Included are the best news links, videos and teaching resources for classroom use" or the 'When my home shook' website where Primary and Intermediate students provide personal accounts of how they are coping and how their communities are supporting one another



Now I am not for a second considering that there is a right or wrong way to approach dealing with such a disaster but it is worth considering, especially if questions students have asked me are also being asked of you.

How did you respond when you heard about the 10,000 people strong Student Volunteer Army recruited via Facebook to help those suffering?

What about the 'Farmy Army' arriving on tractors helping to clean up and distribute supplies?

I am interested in your thoughts and comments and know that most of us cannot even imagine what it is truly like

K

One person can make a difference

Bruce Hammonds recently posted on his blog - 'mavericks our only hope' which certainly gives another view to a topic such as the one below about teams - read about it at Bruces Blog.

Is Teaching too big a job for one person?

Teaching today is a huge job and the demands make effective teams in schools crucial

How many of Lencioni's five dysfunctions of a team do you see regularly within the teams you work with?

What about successful teams you work with or have worked with in the past? What made them work? What lessons can we learn?



How many staff are simply complying but not committing? Is this acceptable? If not, what can we do abut it?

Trust is the foundation of a successful team- this is not 'New news' but what about Parker Palmer's Chicago research that found that Professional learning Communities based on a firm foundation of trust had a 1 in 2 chance of improving learning outcomes for students, BUT without this there was only a 1 in 7 chance.

So these are the questions for you and i challenge you all to discuss these in your ICT teams and e-mail them through to me or add your comments to this post

How can we build trust within our Teams, including the e-central Cluster?

How does a lack of commitment from one person affect the rest of the team and those they come into contact with?

How can a fear of conflict, leading to avoidance of it mean that we avoid the 'difficult conversations' or decisions that must take place?

Are we suffering from an avoidance of accountability where we o longer expect people to do what they said they would?

Are we being attentive to our results or are we collecting data or information for no real purpose?

I will be considering this more and uploading additional material to the wiki later next week, including some recommendations established within the workshop, can we reach agreement across the cluster on habits to cultivate to avoid the Team dysfunction described in Lencioni's pyramid?

This has given me a lot of food for thought and as always, I welcome your feedback
K

Week Four- Learning at Schools Focus- Wednesday morning

First of all- my heart and thoughts go out to everyone in Christchurch. As many of you know, I am from Christchurch and my family and friends are still there. Watching the news footage was disturbing and I feel shocked and numb by the devastation.

It is difficult to focus up here in Rotorua, but I will endeavor to share my experiences and learning with you and welcome your questions, comments and feedback. I am also looking into posting resources on the wiki that you can access.

Carol Moffatt a leading NZ ICT leader opened by emphasizing the crucial focus of 'working with people in the space they are in' and this is a particular focus for Dave and I this year. The more we know about where you're at and where you want to getto, the more we can help you get there!

"Building a human infrastructure will always be more important than building a technological infrastructure"- Do you agree?

Scott McLeod, co-creator of the wildly popular 'What do you know?-Shift happens' video continued with the first keynote identifying how we can encourage political decision makers to see the development of e-learning and how this is reflected by our changing world.

Can someone overseas do your job cheaper? Can a computer do it faster? If so, your job is in DANGER!

The days of factories moving offshore are now being replaced by the replacement of 'cognitive labour' by computer systems or location independent services- when was the last time you replaced a face to face local interaction with an 'automated transaction' , things like airport automated check in anyone, online mortgage checker, booking a hotel online or even internet or telephone banking.

How do we prepare our students for this changing workforce in the developed world?

McLeod believes that despite all we speak of e-learning/ICT and student centred learning today's classroom still resembles those of the industrial age, teacher at the front, standing in front of the chalkboard (Interactive whiteboard) a difference he believes is negligible, delivering knowledge with the addition of a few neat gadgets-

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

One of our biggest hurdles?



Do we understand the true dangers in the digital world and prepare our students with the ability to behave appropriately in a secure online environment or do we use scare mongering and strict filters locking everything that COULD be a danger.

When are we going to start tapping into the potential of our students as collaborators and leaders, as participants rather than an audience?

Until later
K

Week Three's WOW- Harness the lure of Facebook in the classroom

Some of our students spend A LOT of their time on Facebook so how can we harness this to enhance thinking and learning within the classroom??

My Fake Wall is a website currently in Beta which guides you through setting up a 'facebook' wall for a historical figure or even a character from a story. You can use photos, or images freely available or even original illustrations.

I thought this example created by a student using Cinderella was a real giggle and shows the possibilities as an activity to demonstrate understanding.

The downfall??

It does have quite a few ads on the site and you do need to register (which is free), this is where setting up a 'dummy' e-mail account used only for sign ups to websites you use with students could come in handy.

An alternative is offered by Glenn who writes the History Tech Blog and posted about how Social Media could be used in the classroom. Check out that Blog post HERE

He suggests using a Fake Facebook Powerpoint Template and also this Rubric to guide students through the task to focus on the thinking NOT the tech

Danny over at The Whiteboard Blog considered how this could be applied with science and created this fab 'Facebook page' for Sodium



I would love to hear what you think of this as an option and if you do use if, post links to your pages!

Until next time
K

Week Three: Blog Round Up

Welcome back to the second Blog Round Up for the Year

This week brings some interesting combos-

WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR +MUSIC VIDEO + HISTORY TEACHER + JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE?

Not the most common of combinations, but I was absolutely enthralled to view these amazing videos combining the effects of the original Music videos with Historical figures or events created by Amy Burvall a History teacher from the States who is behind the History for Music Lover's YouTube Channel

To read the Full Blog Post about Amy and the videos on iLearn Technology, Click HERE which also lists of the videos currently available (including King Tut, The Vikings, Henry VIII, Joan of Arc and the Spanish Inquisition)

Please see one of Amy's clips below- Never again will I think of Napoleon without also thinking of the Violent Femmes



What about PRICELESS WORKS OF ART + FAMOUS GALLERIES+ ANYTIME +FREE

Many of you would have already heard about the Google Art Project which allows you and your students to virtually "visit the World's most famous galleries and view hundreds of artworks at incredible zoom levels" but I believe it is worth sharing agin.

Even if you have seen these masterpieces in person, this is an amazing perspective, free of the crowds clambering to see the same artwork you have dreamed about since you were small and available anytime without a $2500 air fare

The video below is a great 'Insiders peek' into what was involved in getting this off the ground, imagine being one of the team sitting inside the Uffizi after hours filming Botticelli's work?

The applications for this site in the classroom are HUGE



Don't leave me stranded here in e-central alone, share your ideas, thoughts, comments and views- I look forward to it!

WOW- Websites of the Week

There are some fantastic websites out there and for this first post I would like to highlight THREE that I believe are worth a look

It would be great if other teachers across the cluster could share some of their favourites as well so that we can all build up ourBookmarks Tab!

uJam- A free Cloud Computing alternative to Garage band
The Ed Galaxy Blog is calling Ujam a 'Garageband killer' and the best web app of 2011. A big call, so what does it do? Basically, uJam let's ANYONE create a professional music piece in minutes by simply singing. No instruments required. This can then be edited (even the style) and then sent privately and the best part is that it is currently FREE.

Want to find out more?
Watch the video below. Blew my mind- Watch out Britney, there might be a hit single waiting in one of our classrooms!



RSA Animate Videos
Many of you would have viewed the Ken Robinson video posted on this blog back in October last year and been struck by how the drawing reinforced the ideas presented in a memorable and engaging way. RSA Vision Videos are a collection of "video lectures, from the world's most inspiring thinkers'. RSAnimate has animated many of these to capture our interest even more!

I particularly enjoyed Dan Pink's talk about Drive-extrinsic and intrinsic motivation. Check that out here

RSA Animate-Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us from The RSA on Vimeo.

A great way to enhance our professional learning in an interesting way?

Finally,

Search Cube- Sick of searching the web and then scrolling through endless lists of results?

Search Cube is a visual Search engine that offers a straightforward search box for entering search terms. The search results it yields, however, are images of home pages. These home pages are arranged on the six faces of a cube, with 16 sites displayed on each face.. It shows previews of up to 96 websites, videos and images. You do need Flash 9 or higher but this is a site I am using with my class tomorrow! View the demo below



I am really looking forward to comments suggesting other websites that I can add to my bookmark folders
Until next time
K

January Blog Round Up- Part 2 of 2

Welcome back folks! Tonight's installment is the final part of our January Blog Round Up prior to our weekly updates. For those of you interested in delving deeper into subjects covered on the blog, we are considering setting up a 'Read more' link to enable you to do this while those of you that are time poor can read the 'slimline' version here.

Thoughts??

5 Tasks to Teach yourself to Teach with technology
Nik Peachey is a Learning Technology consultant in London and has a number of blogs, websites and video tutorials but one post that caught my eye was discussing tasks you can undertake as a teacher to get used to using technology.



If you like these, he followed this post with another three tasks and also has a FREE ebook 'Web 2.0 Tools for Teachers'

Feel like Flipping Classroom Instruction on it's head?
The Innovative Educator is a great blog and a great post was shared yesterday about a current 'HOT' topic- 'Flipping Instruction'.

What Might this look like?




Why? " I mean when you think about it does it make any sense that school is generally a place where people come together to sit and listen to the person at the front of the room? It generally doesn't make the most sense to get a group of people together to sit and stare.

What if instead, educators spent class time doing and homework time for the watching of lessons/lectures. The other benefit of this is that these can be viewed and reviewed anytime/anywhere. The result is a lively bustling classroom where students can spend their time learning, talking, doing".

Want to Read More? Click Here- 'How the Flipped Classroom is radically transforming learning'

Finally, just for a laugh
How much 'IT speak' has seeped into our vocabulary without us knowing?
Below is a great sketch from The two Ronnies that Dave shared at Clyde Primary last week and then Sarah e-mailed me with this week, so I knew it was too good not to share, especially as Orange was my mobile phone provider back in the UK...



Until Next Time
K

January Blog Round Up- Part 1 of 2

The land of Blog has been busy over the Summer Break and as the first of a regular weekly Blog Round Up , I will endeavor to select a few highlights in this two-part special. If I miss anything in my brutal editing process, please do comment and add other pieces of interest that can be shared across the cluster.

It would be great if we had regular contributions to these postings, collaborating and sharing across the cluster- especially those of you that have some great blogs that you follow!

After much thought, I have decided to open with 'THE BIG PICTURE', What can we expect from 2011 and are we prepared for it?

Derek Wenmoth from CORE has put together an interesting presentation that he is sharing with clusters he works with entitled' Challenges, changes and Trends 2011' that does a great job at considering what lies ahead.

Challenges, change and trends 2011

View more presentations from Derek Wenmoth.

He has also created a LiveBinder with all of the links

From thinking ahead to considering our continued focus around Digital Literacy and Digital Citizenship, I found this post about Teaching ethical and safe technology use and am interested to hear your thoughts.

How much is common sense? How much do we do without considering it? How much have we neglected in favor of the newest app or website?

A dozen ways to teach ethical and safe technology use

1. Articulate personal values when using technology.

2. Stress the consideration and application of principles rather than relying on a detailed set of rules.

3. Model ethical behaviors.

4. Build student trust.

5. Encourage discussion of ethical issues.

6. Accept the fact students will make mistakes.

7. Allow students personal use of the Internet.

8. Reinforce ethical behaviors and react to the misuse of technology.

9. Create environments that help students avoid temptations.

10. Assess children’s understanding of ethical concepts.

11. Educate our students and ourselves.

12. Educate your parents about ethical technology use.

And finally, many of you are aware of the interest that Games Based Learning (GBL) holds for me and how it can be applied in the classroom to add value to learning rather than as a reward or an activity for 'fast finishers'.

As predicted by Ewan McIntosh last year at Remarkables, GBL is not going away, it is gaining greater interest.

This was evident at the 'Learning without frontiers festival' in London and many presenters wanted to talk about how video games can provide an ideal medium for learning.

These speakers are summarized by Steve Wheeler in his January 11 blog post entitled 'Games Based Learning", check it out here if you are interested in finding out more

That's all from me tonight, it was tough to filter out what not to post. I know you are all busy people and hope there is something here of interest to you. Even if not, please share your ideas, thoughts, links and inspiration so we can all be part of the learning adventure!

K